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We have a similar problem with our two outdoor cats. Although they usually deal with the raccoon much more aggressively than did the cat in the video, sometimes they are not vigilant enough and he gets some of their food. He also uses their water bowl to wash things, which is pretty cool to watch.

The cat was quite friendly. There is actually a lot of negotiation and mutual understanding going on there.

The cat did not go for the coon’s eyes and the coon knew it wouldn’t. The coon did not run the cat off and take everything although that would be well withing the coon’s abilities (the coon does not have the expectation of future provisions that the cat has). The coon just took one helping at a time and backed off.

They might know each other. Or the presence of a human may be mitigating the situation. But I see lots of such calculated encounters among wildlife.

It is hilarious when the cat looks at the camcorder operator and becomes resigned to Dad/Mom being entertained by the encounter rather than running the coon off.

BE FORWARNED!! Coons are big carriers of rabies and, although cute, seemingly friendly and human like in the manipulation of things, they are very strong, very fast and very unpredictable.

I have to second the rabies warning… Raccoons are nocturnal animals. Where I grew up we were warned to contact your local armed hunter if you see one roaming around during the day. It’s a pretty good indication something is wrong with the raccoon.

Oh, this happens to me all the time — we have a few raccoons and possums in our neighborhood — they routinely steal our landlord’s cats food. They are somewhat friendly, and only run when we get too close. This is in an urban area, as well, so it’s interesting to see the refugee wildlife.

The rabies warnings are certainly true, but it’s not that uncommon for coons to be out in the day. Growing up in the country, I found them to be a mischievous force to be reckoned with: whether they were busting into our home or just stealing our garbage. They are a fearless critter.

When my great uncle started loosing his marbles, he started getting a little confused about how many cats he had and ended up with a house full of raccoons and possums that all followed him around and came when he called. This was out in the sticks, and there were a lot of critters around, and the neighbors were not overly thrilled about animals being taught to come into houses and get food. I was a kid, and I thought the whole thing was just delightful, though even I had the good sense to stay the hell away from a raccoon.

Cute little coons! They are playful and picturesque, carry rabies, give your respiratory diseases from their feces, kill your dogs and cats, tear up your shingles, invade every point of your house they can, bite the unwary including children, strew your garbage everywhere, learn fast, are hard to get rid of,only good to eat in stew,will get blood thrown on you for wearing their fur, keep you up all night, raise your property taxes in control measures, eat song bird nestlings, … oh I could go and on!

The raccoon is also perfectly capable of eating the cat if it gets hungry enough. We had chickens and turkeys taken by coons when I was growing up, although a judicious combination of dogs and firearms kept them under control. A cat would be harder for a coon to kill, although if some idiot has had the cat declawed I would put much better than even money on the coon.

Humans and wildlife don’t really mix very well, although coons and possums are generally pretty good neighbours if you live in the city. Lots of garbage to eat, so they tend to stay out of the way. In the city I’ve never seen one out in the daytime. In the country it was a rare but not really unusual occurrence.

#22: A raccoon doesn’t just wake up in the wild to a bulldozer one day and decide he has to go into the city in order to make a living. :)

I don’t think habitat destruction has anything to do with it. The density of raccoons in a nice suburban environment is probably (I’m sure google knows for sure) higher than it is in the few remaining “natural” habitats. Raccoons just really, really thrive on the habitat we create for them. Same for coyotes, rats, mice, sparrows, pigeons, etc. Co-evolution, symbiosis, etc…

And yeah, they’re total pests and dangerous to your pets and poultry, but….they’re SOOOO cute.

This last week, a skunk has been coming in the cat door to eat. Two nights ago, I used my cheap digital camera to get a movie clip of the skunk. But last night while the skunk was in, two raccoons came in as well. I only got still shots of the three of them… inside my house… wait… maybe this isn’t a good idea.

Yes, yes, very cute. However, whoever filmed this should have all animals removed from them and be banned permanently from owning pets. Its clear they put the cat’s food out in such a way as to make such a clever film. What about the cat? This is why I hate all these home movies about pets doing funny stuff…most of the funny stuff if borderline abuse, and frankly only funny to adolescent boys who grow up to vote republican.

I’d find the film alot more funny if it was baby food and the raccon and some 8 month old were going at it for food.

I cracked up at the way the raccoon just stuck his hands in and ran away.

That said, it might be a good idea to shoo him away the next time.

We have indoor cats, but we also take care of a couple cats that live on our property. We found them under our shed when they were kittens, had them fixed, and we make sure there’s always food and water on the back porch for them. We don’t get raccoons much around here, but occasionally we get opossums, and THOSE THINGS are the ugliest things you will ever see crawling around on your porch.

Fearless things, too. You nearly have to go out and throw something at them to get them to leave.

You nearly have to go out and throw something at them to get them to leave.

Throwing stuff never worked for me. I once wounded a coon in the head and couldn’t get a second shot to put him out of his misery until he came back a few minutes later.

My neighbor would just get out of bed and walk up to them with a baseball bat. They always stood their ground until she basically knocked their head off.

After I stopped keeping chickens I resigned to just coon-proofing the house. I also resigned to sharing my porch with one some evenings because he was so stubborn I actually slipped and hurt myself one night trying to run him off.

@ #38 that’s sick and not even funny. An 8 month old would be in far more danger than the cat, and even if it was staged, how is that comparable to sacrificing a child a wild animal???

I wonder if this was filmed in Florida. Growing up in the north I was always told a racoon was nocturnal and was obviously sick if out during the day. I was in Florida one time, however, and saw a skinny racoon during the day, and a park ranger told me that because it is warm and food plentiful all year in Florida the racoons never bulk up or hibernate and don’t adhere to the nocturnal thing as much. Who knew!

Raccoons in daytime are often sick and should be avoided. However, raccoons generally come out close to evening so it is possible that this raccoon was out at a normal time for raccoons. Furthermore, raccoons like some other animals have had their sleep schedules disrupted by human cities. Thus. I wouldn’t be surprised if in an urban environment one saw a fair number of healthy raccoons in daylight.

When I was a kid, we had a raccoon who’d come out to our porch during the day, hang out and beg. He was fairly young and, we sumrised, been treated as a pet, because he just wasn’t afraid of humans at all.
We ended up feeding and petting him for a while (he suckled my fingers), before we caught him and released him in the woods far away from our gun-happy neighbors.

Dangerous they may be but by and large I think they’re just trying to get by, much as anyone else is.

It appears to me that the coon might possibly be the videographer’s pet as well … thus making it assumable that the critter has been vaccinated against rabies, and perhaps learned diurnal habits also. I live in the central city but also a block away from a heavily-wooded historic cemetery; and I get alot of critters that one doesn’t normally get in the city … including raccoons and possums who enjoy the cat food I put out on the porch for my own daytime-only outside kitteh as well as neighborhood strays. Yeah, the wild ones DO carry rabies. I don’t let my cat stay out at night!

@23 when humans kill off an animals natural predator or competing animals (wolves used to keep coyotes in check) and then take thier natural habitat then yes they can end up overpopulating and becoming pest it is through no fault of thier own. Humans screw everything up.